Deepika Padukone at a promotional event in Mumbai, Mar. 29. (Mitesh Bhuvad | PTI)
Deepika Padukone at a promotional event in Mumbai, Mar. 29. (Mitesh Bhuvad | PTI)

Deepika Padukone’s online video, My Choice that sought respect for women and their choices, has now got competition with a male version asking the fairer sex to acknowledge men’s ‘choices’ too. A Press Trust of India report.

My Choice: Male Version takes on Deepika’s clip that went viral. The actress had asked men to broaden their mindset and accept women the way they are, without judging them on the basis of gender, body, professions, likes and dislikes.

The two-minute-34-second video is directed by Homi Adjania, with whom Deepika worked in Cocktail and Finding Fanny. It is produced by Dinesh Vijan. Kersi Khambatta, who wrote Finding Fanny, has written the lines for Deepika’s video.

“It is my choice to marry or not to marry … It is my choice to have sex before marriage or have sex outside the marriage …,” says 29-year-old Deepika’s voiceover at one point in the video.

This comment was particularly disliked by many, who termed it “anti-men” and called her out for promoting adultery.

The male version has picked up Deepika’s monologue but twisted it with lines like, “My body, my mind and my choices … To wear the clothes I want, not dress the way you want. My choice to come home, when I want. Don’t think I am a cheat, if I stay out or don’t pick your call …”

The video ends with a caption, “Respect Men and Women. We do not support cheating or adultery.”

Deepika’s clip has divided the online community with some calling it “truly empowering” while others terming it as hypocritical, elitist and anti-men.